


A Delicate Procedure

by tehfanglyfish



Series: Aithusa [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Canon Era, Deviates From Canon, Established Relationship, Fluff, Healer Merlin, M/M, Self-indulgent fluff, Sort Of, shameless fluff, why does capitalization go wrong in custom tags?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:27:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25542091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tehfanglyfish/pseuds/tehfanglyfish
Summary: An emergency forces Merlin to demonstrate his skill as a healer.  Arthur is impressed.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: Aithusa [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1850836
Comments: 18
Kudos: 285





	A Delicate Procedure

**Author's Note:**

> Things I do not own: this franchise and these characters.

“Scissors.”

Arthur placed them in Merlin’s outstretched hand.

“Scalpel.”

“Are you sure you can do this?” Arthur found the scalpel on the tray of tools but didn’t immediately hand it over. “Maybe we should find someone more experienced. Gaius or…”

“Do you really want to explain this to anyone else?”

Merlin had a point.

“Fine. But be careful.”

“I always am.”

“Right.”

Merlin huffed but stayed focused on the task at hand. As he began the first incision, Arthur turned away, unable to watch. It wasn’t that he was squeamish – knights couldn’t be. But this was important. If anything went wrong, Arthur wasn’t sure he’d ever recover. And while Merlin had apprenticed under Gaius for years, this likely hadn’t been part of his training.

“Easy,” Arthur hissed when he felt Merlin’s hand slip.

“Sorry. This bit’s more torn up than I thought. I think I’m going to need you to hold it while I work.”

“Must I?” Arthur didn’t want to. The whole ordeal had been painful enough already and Merlin’s request would only make things more difficult for him.

“I can finish sooner and the stitches will be neater if you do.”

“Alright. Just get it over with.”

Arthur put his hands where Merlin indicated, careful to avert his eyes from the wound. He winced as Merlin tugged and pulled, sliced and trimmed. This was not how he’d wanted to spend the night. But there was nothing to be done for it. He only hoped that Merlin would hurry up as he wasn’t sure he could endure much more.

“Almost done. You can let go now and find me the needle.”

It and the sutures were waiting when Merlin reached for them.

“Ok. Now I need you to hold it again. Don’t worry. This will all be over before you know it.”

As there was little else he could do, Arthur gritted his teeth and waited for Merlin to finish up.

“If you’re wondering, I’m using silk because it’s strongest.”

“Thank you.” Arthur hadn’t considered that particular aspect of the repair but he appreciated the care Merlin was taking. Silk might be expensive, but Arthur would gladly pay the price for something so important.

“There!” Merlin said, snipping the thread. “All done. You can look now.”

“That’s really impressive.” Arthur marveled at the quality of Merlin’s work. “He’s good as new. You can’t even tell he was chewed up.”

“Sorry about that. I could’ve sworn that I checked the entire room before I left today but you know how good Aithusa is at hiding. She’s still sad from where you scolded her.”

Arthur sighed. It was difficult living with a young dragon that was teething. No matter how many toys they gave her, Aithusa seemed to find something forbidden to chew on instead. He hadn’t meant to be so stern with her, but the plush dragon she had mauled earlier that day had been one of the few toys from his childhood not designed to train him to be a knight or king.

“Where did you get this anyway?”

“Gaius. He gave it to me when I was around four or five. He found it while he was off visiting someone. I had to promise to keep it a secret. There’s no way my father would have approved.”

“I wonder...”

“What?”

“It’s just, I had one almost identical to this one. My mother made it for me. I remember being so excited because she was working on a second one but then it disappeared about the same time Gaius came to visit.”

“And you think this is it?”

“It looks exactly the same and the timing was right.”

They stared at one another for a moment. Unsure of what else to do with the flood of emotions threatening to overwhelm him, Arthur kissed Merlin. If the kiss happened to last longer than the time it took to stitch up the dragon, Merlin didn’t seem to mind.

“Do you think she knew we’d end up together?” Arthur asked when they finally broke apart.

“She couldn’t have.” Merlin took the dragon from Arthur’s hands and placed it in the wardrobe. “There. That should keep him safe.”

“I don’t know. Your mother possesses great wisdom. Too bad you didn't inherit any of it." Arthur dodged Merlin's playful slap. "She knew I’d fallen for you ever since the time we stayed at her house to fight off the raiders.”

“Really?”

“She took me aside before we left and told me I had her blessing.”

“But you waited years to make a move.”

“Like you did any better.”

“Fair point. But we got here eventually.”

Then Merlin smiled so sweetly at Arthur that there was nothing for it but to kiss him again, this one longer and more heated than the first, only ending when Gaius banged on their chamber door to yell about his missing medical kit.

“Come on,” Arthur said, making a halfhearted effort at straightening his disheveled tunic. “Gaius needs his supplies and we need to track down Aithusa before she chews up the round table.”


End file.
